In conversation with Charissa Snijders

Charissa Snijders’ studio at her home on Herald Island sits within stepping distance from the water, but this is only the start of her connection to the land. Her practice goes far beyond the general idea of ‘sustainability’, and instead establishes and uncovers the connection between people and place.

Growing up, there was no direct route that drove Charissa to a career in architecture. A first generation architect, her mother was a refugee from Romania with Greek heritage, and her father Dutch – having moved to Australia before setting up roots in New Zealand.

“As a child I was always attracted to light, colour and form, and creating with that,” she says, but it was her school’s career adviser who suggested pursuing architecture after seeing that Charissa performed well in maths, physics, science, and art.

From that conversation, she went on to do summer work at an architectural firm. This opened the door to a whole new world for Charissa, but underneath that she felt a slight disjunct within the profession. While architecture was rich and rewarding with its exploration of form and beauty, Charissa wanted something more.

“I’ve always understood beauty to be beyond the superficial. I wanted to find that deeper meaning of what beauty and its life-giving force could do and how it could transform people’s lives and experiences,” she says.

Charissa spent eight years working at Cook Hitchcock & Sargisson, including a year in Thailand that broadened her perspective of the possibilities – how culture, values, and experiences could all be woven together within architecture.

It was 1999 when it came time for Charissa to step out on her own. Passionate about nurturing life and nature, she joined what was then the Auckland Environmental Business Network (now the Sustainable Business Network) and played a part in forming the Sustainable Building Cluster – which eventually helped form the New Zealand Green Building Council in 2005.

Charissa Snijders uncovers stories and their energetic influences, and introduces those to her architectural practice.

“I’ve always been interested in this area, and what I have found is that working within regenerative practice and shifting one’s worldview requires unlearning as much as it does learning and developing new approaches. This year has uncovered another layer of this work,” says Charissa, explaining that with the help of her close team, her practice of ‘Reverence Architecture’ has fully come into its own – bringing together her life and work experiences to date.

Following this approach, clients go on a transformational journey when they work with Charissa.

“The world is complex, people are complex, projects are complex. Rather than simplifying and trying to solve a problem we need to take the time to understand the complexity, and design and respond to it fully to enable ecological resilience and value-adding potential.

“It’s vital that we look for the potential in both the land and the people. If people make decisions from a place of aroha – from a deep connection and reverence to land, to people, and the life around them, then the outcome will be so different from one based on scarcity or oversimplification.”

The first part of the process is relationship building – the deepening of the relationship between people and place, and shifting one’s conditioned mindset to “embrace the indigenous worldview of the interconnectedness and interrelationships that all living things bring to life”.

“We explore that connection,” says Charissa. “Can the client shift from seeing the land as a resource, to a living, giving lifeforce? It is always a journey of coming to understand our own stories, and the story of our land and how they connect, to reveal the conscious and unconscious aspects in the fullness of the potential.

“It’s a real transformation that requires leadership, a co-creative approach and a willingness to be open to uncovering the possibilities. Reverence Architecture is a journey for all involved – there are no prescriptive guidelines, only the frameworks, tools and knowledge that we have.”

The work of Charissa, The Treehouse rests lightly on a tongue of land on Waiheke Island. Reminiscent of a tramper’s hut, the house is a timeless haven connected closely to the elements.

Frameworks such as the Living Building Challenge and its seven ‘petals’– place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity, and beauty – help to guide this philosophy.

“These petals help us challenge the status quo, an example being the ‘material petal’ and the insight gained from avoiding the common ‘red list’ chemicals so hurtful to our environment,” says Charissa.

“A recent substation project – a first of its kind in New Zealand – was designed and built in alignment with the Living Building Challenge framework. What is so rewarding about the process is both the positive ongoing ripple effects of this small building and its amazing performance results – including a 363% reduction in carbon.”

Biomimicry is also integral to how Charissa works. “We have so much to learn from the structures and materials of nature and how we can actually bring them into our work to help the planet return to health,” she says.

The drive towards this full approach rose to the surface for Charissa after she experienced a pivotal health crisis in 2019.

“I’d always been exploring this approach, but I hadn’t yet fully stepped into this work that I am doing now. I made the commitment then to only work on projects that are transformative and regenerate the health of land, people and all of life.”

And this is where Reverence Architecture’s process of immersion comes into play. Where the presence of land and its influences are only generally touched upon in architecture, Charissa’s practice goes further – she guides her clients into the energy of the ground they are standing on, and their relationship to it.

‘Onetapu’ – which means sacred sands – is a fitting name for a very special place, and reflective of Charissa's practice of ‘reverence architecture’.

The Onetapu home emerges from the landscape, almost as though it were part of the land itself.

With Charissa’s Onetapu project on Waiheke Island, for example, there was deep exploration of the site before any work commenced. Sitting and observing, Charissa and her client came to appreciate the qualities that the land wanted to express – the joy, beauty, peace and tranquility, “a coming home to oneself and to others”.

“Working from this place and within the full sensory experience, every aspect was considered to bring this energy into being through the materials and the design,” says Charissa.

Ultimately, all parts of Charissa’s philosophy and process come together to unlock stories, nurture the environment, and create a strong connection between a client and their building so that it instantly feels like home – a feeling that was experienced by the resident of Onetapu.

“When she stayed the first night at the house, she rang me up the next day and she was deeply moved. She was just so happy about what we had created together.

“That’s why I do what I do. This work that I’m doing isn’t for the few, it’s for the many.

“It’s not a luxury – I see it as a necessity to enable us to respond to the urgency of what we are globally facing and the race towards making a difference.”

Words by Cassie Birrer